The tools researchers used to study how this amphipod’s limbs develop could help inform our understanding of cell lineages and fates.

May 2, 2018

The Scientist Staff, The Scientist Staff

racking the developmental history of the cells and the structures they eventually form—known as the cell linage—has been a key area of research in developmental biology. But studying which cells become limbs instead of eyes, for example, necessitates the tricky proposition of following cells in developing organisms. Now, researchers have observed the limb development of the marine crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis for the first time. They fluorescently labeled the nuclei of Parhyale embryos and imaged them with light-sheet microscopy. The researchers reported their findings recently (March 29) in eLife.

“The tools and resources described in this paper will most likely help reveal the cellular and molecular mechanisms that define cell lineages and determine cell fates during the development of an organism,” says study coauthor Pavel Tomancak in a statement. “This might help explain the underlying causes of developmental malformations.”